"Suicide rates continue to rise as the Prime Minister urges the citizens to remain calm and face the event with the stoicism our great nation is famous for. This and more now on the midnight news."
Deciding that I could do without some more news about what I already know more than enough about, I turn off the TV, plunging my small apartment into silence. ...no, of course not. What a laughable idea—silence. I haven't had any silence in years. This god forsaken city runs at full capacity twenty four hours a day, seven days a week, with all the incessant noise that comes with that. Cars, motor bikes, yelling, occasional gunfire, blaring advertisements, it's all there. I suppose silence to me is just that there is no foreground noise to mask the constant background noise. Of course, the noise has changed quite a bit in recent times.
Yes, it has finally come to pass—for decades, scientists had been warning that a disaster was brewing, but with enough investment on the part of governments around the world, and it could be avoided. And of course, since the governments were run by corporations that can't see beyond the next quarter, it was soundly ignored. And then, recently, the scientists' fears were confirmed and then some. The disaster was coming, we had failed in averting it, it was no longer possible for it to be stopped, and they could precisely prove when it was going to occur. The evidence was clear enough for a lot of people to no longer be able to ignore it, and as a result, society has sort of slowed to a crawl. Some people kill themselves to get out early, some retreat to the countryside with their loved ones, some declare all the evidence to be lies and just live their lives as normal.
But most notable of all is the reaction the young people of the city showed. With city police departments completely understaffed, law enforcement has essentially become a thing of the past, and so young people have taken to the streets, not to revolt in some way or take out their anger over their stolen future on those responsible, but instead drowning the entire city in electronic music and partying their hearts out like there is no tomorrow because, well, there isn't. It's like those that have lived with the idea of the disaster being in the back of the mind all their life have just decided that if the older generations decided that they were not to get a future, they might as well take what little time there is left and live it up as hard as they can, damn anybody else.
So far, I haven't joined them, having been unable to truly throw away my last bit of connection with my "normal" life in my courier side job, but honestly, I should've done it far earlier. I haven't gotten a damn thing out of it apart from more abuse from bosses and customers alike, and soon, it'll all be dust anyway. I have absolutely no reason not to throw it all away and just party until the lights go out on humanity. And with that, I make my decision—from now on, I'm living only for myself. Throwing on some street clothes, I step outside my apartment complex and am struck by how little traffic there is. Normally, all sort of vehicles would be zooming by, pedestrians cowed into submission and hiding at the very side of the sidewalks and praying they don't get hit by a delivery service that takes traffic rules to be more of a suggestion.
But now, there's not a moving vehicle to be seen. Instead, the noise is still there, but it's a lot more welcoming, if that makes sense. If it weren't for the stars in the sky, the bright neon signs all along the street make you completely forget that it's midnight. And instead of the vehicles whizzing along, the streets are filled with people, milling about, chatting with other nearby people, dancing to the electronic music loudly playing from multiple portable sound stations some people brought along, or eating at the food trucks that no longer ask for payment and are just supporting what will be this city's final party. Any sort of inhibitions people might have had have gone completely out the window—in fact, looking into some alleys along the street, I could spot a woman giving a man a blowjob in one of them, and some guys having a threesome in another. I presume that if I were looking to get laid, all it would take at this point is just asking somebody. Not like you really care about personality and compatibility when the world is ending, right? Might as well just throw all that to the wind and just get your pleasure in while you still can.
Ultimately, I'm not sure yet if that's where I want to go with this right now, so I pick out a smaller group sitting at a table and talking over a large plate of junk food from a nearby vendor and head over to them, giving them a friendly wave that they respond to in kind.
"Hey, you mind if I join you guys?" I ask, still wanting to be somewhat courteous—after all, even though we're all going to die, you can't just start being rude at a party, it'd just harsh the vibe.
One of the group, a girl, turns to face me with a smile. "Nah, man, just take a seat and dig in! My bro owns this greasy shithole of a grub joint, and he's gonna be making food until his supplies run out, so there's plenty left! We can't take it with us, after all!"
Thanking them, I take a seat and grab some of the food, chowing down and enjoying its sinful, greasy taste. I had always abstained from such food for health reasons, but, well, no more need for that now. And as we eat and drink, we start talking.